Portland St Johns railroad bridge (#0498)

Just about a mile upriver (closer to downtown) from the St Johns bridge, a railroad bridge owned by BNSF and officially named Burlington Northern Railroad Bridge 5.1 but also referred to as the St Johns Railroad bridge.

The bridge was completed in 1908 for the Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railway. It was originally a swing bridge but was hit by ships many times and so in 1989 was converted to vertical-lift bridge. Due to the bridge being a mix of old (1908) which is painted silver and much newer (1989) which is allowed to rust, the bridge is an unusual combination of colors. It is currently used by freight trains and Amtrak. See the Wikipedia page for some interesting pictures: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burlington_Northern_Railroad_Bridge_5.1